Recruiting

Stress & Self-Control

Sponsor:

NYU Langone Health

Code:

NCT05795179

Conditions

Self-Control

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 70

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Interventions

Cold-Pressor Task (CPT)

Trier Social Stress Test (TSST)

Modified Non-Stress CPT

Modified Non-Stress TSST

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)

Study Details

Brief summary:

Self-control failures are a universal challenge for healthy and clinical populations. Recent work suggests these failures may arise from excessive cognitive costs associated with exercising self-control, yet the mechanisms underlying these costs are unknown. To address this, the investigators will use a validated decision-making task that measures how much individuals will pay (from a study endowment) to restrict access to tempting rewards that may lead to self-control failures. The investigators will examine these costs to identify their cognitive, neural and affective mechanisms. First, the investigators will identify the cognitive and computational mechanism that gives rise to self-control costs. Second, the investigators will characterize the neural correlates of self-control costs and identify neural mediators and connectivity patterns stemming from these costs. Finally, the investigators will examine how different classes of stressors (physical, social, or lifetime stress) shape the behavioral and neural representations of self-control costs.

Conditions

Self-Control

Study ID

NCT05795179

Start date

Oct 1, 2024

Status verified date

Mar, 2026

Completion date

Apr 1, 2028

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Dec 1, 2027

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 70

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • 18-70 years of age, able to speak, read, and write fluently in English
  • be willing and able to follow study procedures and provide informed consent.
  • Must additionally confirm they are on a diet to maintain/lose weight and are implementing/maintaining dietary changes.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • History of or medication for neurologic or psychiatric disease
  • High-blood pressure or heart condition
  • Diabetes, food allergies, metabolic disorders or history of eating disorder
  • Use of corticosteroids or beta-blockers
  • Metallic implants or devices contraindicating magnetic resonance imaging.
  • Pregnancy is considered an exclusion criteria due to all stress and scanning procedures, thus pregnant participants will not be permitted to participate in the study.

Study Design

Enrollment

300 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Basic Science

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Physiological Stress

Healthy dieters will undergo a single-visit neuroimaging study where they will first complete demographic and self-report measures followed by a self-control decision task in an fMRI scanner. Prior to scanning, participants will be assigned to a physiological stress group and complete the corresponding stress task. For the physiological stress group, this task is the Cold-Pressor Task (CPT), a physiological stress task in which participants continuously submerge their hand and forearm in ice-water (0-4°C) for 3 minutes. After the scan, participants will wait for 1 hour in an adjacent study room where they will play out one trial of the decision-making task completed in the scanner.

experimental: Social Stress

Healthy dieters will undergo a single-visit neuroimaging study where they will first complete demographic and self-report measures followed by a self-control decision task in an fMRI scanner. Prior to scanning, participants will be assigned to the social stress group and complete the corresponding stress task. For the social stress group, this task is the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), a psychosocial stressor that requires participants perform a short speech and solve math problems in front of 2 evaluative judges. After the scan, participants will wait for 1 hour in an adjacent study room where they will play out one trial of the decision-making task completed in the scanner.

active comparator: Physiological Non-Stress

Healthy dieters will undergo a single-visit neuroimaging study where they will first complete demographic and self-report measures followed by a self-control decision task in an fMRI scanner. Prior to scanning, participants will be assigned to the physiological non-stress group and complete the corresponding stress task. For the physiological non-stress group, participants will continuously submerge their hand and forearm in warm water for 3 minutes. After the scan, participants will wait for 1 hour in an adjacent study room where they will play out one trial of the decision-making task completed in the scanner.

active comparator: Social Non-Stress

Healthy dieters will undergo a single-visit neuroimaging study where they will first complete demographic and self-report measures followed by a self-control decision task in an fMRI scanner. Prior to scanning, participants will be assigned to the social stress group and complete the corresponding stress task. For the social non-stress group, participants will be asked to prepare for a speech that they will practice alone to themselves and complete math problems alone on a piece of scrap paper. After the scan, participants will wait for 1 hour in an adjacent study room where they will play out one trial of the decision-making task completed in the scanner.

Interventions

Cold-Pressor Task (CPT)

CPT is a physiological stress task in which participants continuously submerge their hand and forearm in ice-water (0-4°C) for 3 minutes.

Trier Social Stress Test (TSST)

The TSST is a psychosocial stressor that requires participants perform a short speech and solve math problems in front of 2 evaluative judges.

Modified Non-Stress CPT

The modified non-stress CPT involves participants continuously submerging their hand and forearm in warm water for 3 minutes.

Modified Non-Stress TSST

For the modified non-stress TSST, participants are asked to prepare for a speech that they will practice alone to themselves and complete math problems alone on a piece of scrap paper.

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)

Participants will complete the self-control task in the fMRI scanner.

Primary outcome measure

  • Average Self-Control Cost [ Time Frame: Day 1 ]
  • Change in fMRI BOLD Signal During Self-Control Decisions [ Time Frame: Day 1 (Up to 1.5 Hours) ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Candace Raio

candace.raio@nyulangone.org

Locations

NYU Langone Health

Recruiting

New York, New York, United States, 10016

More Information

Sponsor

NYU Langone Health

Last update posted

Mar 11, 2026

Last verified

Mar, 2026

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by NYU Langone Health on 2026-03-11.